Jump! Jump! Jump! Ruffhouse Records co-founder Chris Schwartz arrived at World Wide Stereo on Greenfield Avenue in Ardmore one summer evening not to talk about rap, but to talk about himself.

The man legendarily behind some of the 20th century’s most iconic hip-hop artists — The Fugees and soloists Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill, Cypress Hill, Schoolly D, Kris Kross — wasn’t there to drop knowledge on an upcoming rap artist or a new trap track. Schwartz was there to introduce an even fresher topic: his memoir.

Inside the Ruffhouse Records Memoir

Schwartz is the author of “Ruffhouse: From the Streets of Philly to the Top of the ’90s Hip-Hop Charts.” The book is a work of truly stunning revelation — not just because it details the inner sanctum of a recording industry whose hidden machinations have changed little. The covert manner in which Universal hid the soul-crushing damages of its 2008 fire from artists who lost all their master tapes is just one example.

But the deeper revelation is how tortured minds can triumph over adversity to find their life’s calling — making, then losing, a lot of money doing so. Ruffhouse Records sold more than 120 million records worldwide, generating over a billion dollars in sales in partnership with Sony.

You want to hear about the drugs, sex, and gossip — especially connected to the locals in “Ruffhouse: From the Streets of Philly to the Top of the ’90s Hip-Hop Charts.” They’re here, and there’s plenty of salacious, woozy messiness to go around:

• Lines of cocaine snorted in odd locations – check.

• Countless deeply interpersonal relationships shattered by ego, money, and drugs – check.

• Spending $2.4 million on a video shoot or dropping $5 million of his money on the (way ahead of its time) street team rap-murder-mystery “Snipes” – check.

• Having lunch with Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean at Spaghetti Warehouse – check.

Why the Ruffhouse Records Story Still Resonates

Schwartz is a quickly paced and colorful writer who keeps the action coming, the anecdotes tightly packed for maximum drama. Even as he portrays the meteoric rise of Ruffhouse Records with biz partner Joe Nicolo and its crushing finale, you never get anything close to wallowing.

It doesn’t even read like a Dickensian cautionary tale. Like a hard, crazy car crash, you’re moving too fast and too frantically to feel the impact. You just know that it’s bad and that luckily everyone (most) survived, intact.

That “intact” part of Schwartz’s tale — a youth spent being harangued, bullied and harassed from within his own family, several generations worth of mental illness, the insecurities of the artist and entrepreneur even at their most successful — that’s the tough and tender meat of “Ruffhouse: From the Streets of Philly to the Top of the ’90s Hip-Hop Charts.”

Sure, how stoned Cypress Hill really was, and how Kris Kross came to wear those pants backward is in the book – but you can get that info on any MTV Where Are They Now episode or YouTube mini-doc. If you want motion and emotion, find this book.

Images: Courtesy of Chris Schwartz

About Post Author

A.D. Amorosi

See author's posts